


boys don't say it

by peterparks



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, it's just a really short fic i came up w randomly, there's nothing much to really say here, toxic masculinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterparks/pseuds/peterparks
Summary: but what were boysmeantto say?





	boys don't say it

“ _Boys don’t say it_ ” Keith’s father had reprimanded when Keith was the ripe age of four. His father was, for the most part, a nice and kind man. His eyes had saged from life and _guilt_ above all else. However, he had a particular fixation on that single mantra.

 

“ _Boys don’t say it_ ” he’d told Keith, age six, when he’d told his dad that he had a new friend and he loved them. Keith had frowned at his father’s reaction; but what were boys _meant_ to say?

 

 _Boys don’t say it_ , Keith thought to himself, as he heard a boy from his class – Lance – parading around at age eleven, proclaiming how much he loved everyone in his class, before he presumed to plant sloppy kisses on everyone’s foreheads. Keith had scowled at Lance when he’d come near him, to which Lance then added, “everyone _except_ Keith.”

 

His father died when he was twelve, and no relatives would claim him. So, he was placed into the foster system. His first foster family was different than his father. While his father was wisened and beaten down, this family was loud and conservative. They applied new meaning to the words he knew all too well.

 

“ _Boys don’t say it_ ,” his foster father yelled at his foster brother, who was four years Keith’s senior. His foster brother yelled back, something indistinctive from the other screams in the house, and then – _slam!_ – the front door closed.

 

 _Boys don’t say it_ , the phrase rang in his head, every time he went to almost-slip. Not that it was frequent. He didn’t have any friends. No one for him to _care_ about enough to accidentally let it slip.

 

At age sixteen, Keith sat alone. Until, the annoying boy from when he was eleven sat beside him, along with his friend… Hank? No – _Hunk_.“You’re the kid from elementary school.”

 

Keith nodded, mute.

“Well, uh, could we sit here?”

“You already are,” Keith pointed out.

“Real Einstein here,” Lance bantered.

Keith said nothing.

 

Lance said everything. He’d speak and speak and _speak_ constantly. Keith wondered if maybe he just liked the sound of his own voice. He knew _he_ liked the sound of Lance’s voice.

 

 _Boys don’t say it_ , he berated himself, as Lance sat on his couch beside him as they played _Voltron_ on the Xbox. Lance turned to him, with a cocky smile. “I just realised something.”

“What?”

“I never took back my ‘ _everyone except Keith_ ’.”

“Oh.”

Lance pursed his lips, mocking his eleven-year-old self, and kissed Keith on the top of the forehead. Keith teasingly wiped the imaginary spit from his forehead, pretending that he wasn’t twelve shades of red.

 

Keith was eighteen when he was invited to his first party. He’d only gone because his new adoptive brother had said it’s “ _A right of passage_.” Keith thought the only perk was seeing Lance.

 

Lance, who was currently extremely tipsy and adorable, stumbling towards Keith.

“Hey, mannnnnn,” he slurred, “You know, I love you. Like, a lot.”

 _Boys don’t say it. Boys don’t say it. Boys don’t say it_.

“Oh,” Keith said, “Well, I uh… like you a lot, too.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “Like, _like_ like or just, like, _like._ ”

“Just _Like_ , Lance,” Keith replied, his head hardly wrapping around language again.

“Ha!” Lance _giggled_ , “ _‘Like’_ like, doesn’t sound like a word anymore–”

 

Keith sat on the fire escape, aged nineteen. A knock on the window behind him. He turns to look at the person tapping, and there stood Lance. His smile was crooked and oddly _bashful_. Keith slid the window open from the outside to give Lance permission to continue forward.

 

Lance was all legs. He fumbled as he crossed his legs sitting down, only to dangled them over the edge of the fire escape down towards the street below. He scratched the back of his neck with his right hand. “So, I’m leaving for university tomorrow.”

Keith knew this. Keith _dreaded_ this.

“Yeah,” Keith’s throat felt dry.

“And I just…” Lance trailed, not being able to properly articulate his thoughts. Keith sighed, pressing his fingers to his temple.

“What?” Lance said.

“Nothing, I…”

 _Boys don’t say it_.

Lance’s eyes met with Keith’s for a fraction too long, and soon it was like gravity. A natural progression and soon, their lips touched. Soft, delicate. Scared it would disappear.

“I love you,” Lance said.

Keith pressed another kiss to Lance’s lips.

 

Keith is twenty-two. He lays back on his bed he shares with Lance. Lance sits on a beanbag he’d insisted they should have, his laptop open on his lap. Keith watches as Lance’s eyebrows furrow together as he thinks.

“I love you,” Keith says suddenly.

Lance looks up, surprised. Then, a smile.

 

 _Boys don’t say it_ , Keith thinks.

 _But men do_.


End file.
